Dying Hope
by OneMoreLiving
Summary: Before they came to Earth the Votans lived on other worlds. This is the story of an Iranthient man seeking some hope of saving his family as those worlds eminent end draws nearer. OC
1. Chapter 1

We lived in the red sands and were no stranger to the heat. Dangerous and beautiful, like my wife Irana, they were the best place for our people to live. Irathients faced the bigotry and hatred of other races, we were called dirty and vermin, simply because we were not so weak that every sickness would effect us. The other Votans believed us to be bellow them but their unfounded hate showed them to be weaker in spirit as well as body. But our people lived on almost unaffected by this in the red sands where only we were strong enough to survive.

The sand monsters, called Rochan, were red like our hair and the sand so they could go almost unnoticed laying under the sand. Too often a man would not know one to be there until they were half way down its gullet. The heat, which on our planet was already rather extreme due to it being the habitable world nearest the sun, was at a greater intensity as it bounced of the sand, smoothed almost to a mirror like shine. But we adapted and we lived well enough thanks to trading sand jewels with the Sensoths and Liberatas. Perhaps we could have had a finer life if we traded with the Castithans, if we found one willing to trade with us, even for something they found so desirable. But we were a proud people, we still are, and would not stand to trade with the shtako who faught so dirty in our last war.

But it was to those shtako and their planet that we now run. Perhaps there we would still die, just later but perhaps time will lead to something which will save us from a fate I do not understand, a fate which makes me fear for my children. I do not know if death due to our sun expanding would be too quick for us to know it had come. I do not know if we will feel our skin dry and burn and crack before we die. I do not know anything but that I will do all I must to see my family survive. Even deal with those dishonorable shtako.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I forgot this last time! I do not own defiance, though I would not mind if I did :)

**Chapter Two:**

**First Night In Town**

Our landing could not have come soon enough. Crammed into a small, shaking, metal shell with another family of four made the already small quarters even more cramped. Steam from the landing jets filled the baggage room where Irana and I sat with our children. Little Yara seeing the steam curling through the slats of the ships walls squealed and threw her self back into her mothers arms. Irana and I, who sat behind her, fell back into the wall. My head and the wall impacted making an extremely unpleasant ringing sound, though as Irana was looking at me and laughing it must have been in my mind.

"Oh stop pouting you big baby! Such a thing is no thing," intoned my wife in a mock-stern voice.

"It was indeed a grievous blow! But perhaps a kiss from a fair maiden might distract me from the pain?" I joked while closing my eyes and screwing my face into the epitome of pain.

It was a kiss too tiny to be Irana though that I felt. I opened my eyes to see that little Yara had climbed over her mother and now was wrapped around me. "Oh! She must be the finest maiden in the land for all that ails me has passed away like a shadow in the bright light!" Apparently my little girl did not enjoy such homages to her beauty as she bared her teeth at me and growled. It is no good to allow children to come into the habit of growling and raising their hackles at every little thing so as I rose to join my wife and son I picked Yara up by the ankles and said "Why, this does not look right!"

And so my little girl laughed making it easy enough for us to leave the ship in good cheer with the other family. Debarking the ship we found ourselves in a place of so many sights and sounds and colors that it dazzled me. There where Castithans everywhere! One sat before a stall of large brightly colored rugs calling out to the crowd "The best rugs! A nice rug for a pretty lady? I will give a pretty lady a discount! No? How about you sir? You look like someone who can appreciate the finer things in life."

Crammed right next to his stall was a perfume seller from whom came so many scents that I began to sneeze. Then we saw a jewelry seller with so many sparkling items, a tanner with fine furs, a bread seller and a fruit seller. So many things for sale! We must have landed in the market.

I was so mesmerized by this splendor, that I had never seen the like of, I did not notice the time until my wife said to me "It is getting dark, we should find a place to stay."

Finally making our way out of the market and into the streets where homes and only a few shops resided we began to look for a sign or some person who might give us directions. And luck was with us because we saw a sign saying "Lucky's Bar and Beds" hanging above the door of a purple wooded building. Going in I asked a man at a table where the inn-keeper was and was pointed to an uncommonly robust man with his sideburns braided into two tails and hanging to the top of his paunch.

"How much might one night be?" I asked overly polite to the Castithan devil.

Looking me up and down he said with a smirk on his face "Twenty rubons." That was a steep price and I would have haggled more if when I looked down I had not seen Yara falling asleep against my leg. Quickly figuring that it would translate to twelve hongs I pulled out the coins and passed them over.

But the inn-keeper did not take them, "Your money is no good here, it would seam."

My wife with blood shot eyes and limp hair must have been tired too because she almost jumped on the man, and would have had I not held her arms, while she snarled "Why? Is it because we are Irathient? You do not want us to kill all of your customers with our sickness? Well, no worries, we would not touch one of you with a long knife!"

His fat cheeks drew back and his eyes narrowed as he took joy in telling us, "No. Your money is worthless because you _people_ have nothing of worth now! Before you had your sand jewels, but none of you are strong enough to mine those now that the sun is closing in. How does it feel to know you aren't strong enough? Isn't that what you pride yourselves on, your strength?" At the end he was practically wheezing his breath came so hard, and so was Irana as she barred her teeth at the man and hissed.

Pulling her from the inn with an arm around her waist and dragging my bag with the other I signaled to Venti to grab his mothers bag as well when we left. Practically falling out the door because she struggled in my arms I pulled us all over to the side of the door so I might whisper in her ear, "I thought we were suppose to be teaching Yara that this kind of behavior is not acceptable? Keep it up and she will learn another lesson and we will have a place to rest tonight, in a jail cell."

I let her pull back from me finally and as she stood there she huffed while straightening her tunic. She said in a voice, trying just a little too hard to sound calm, "Tonight we can trade something for lodgings and tomorrow we will find work."

That night we looked for someone to trade with. We would have given the inn-keepers something or traded with a passerby for money. But none would stop long enough to hear what we had. Venti suggested, "I think they believe we are beggars."

We tried until well after dark to trade with someone, we tried until we sat on the corner hunched over from exhaustion and little Yara already asleep on Venti's back. But we had no success and so we found ourselves curled into the wall of an alley that night. It might have been an hour or two that I slept before I awoke to find Yara no longer snuggled up between Irana and I. Looking around I saw her pushed against the other wall of the alley to avoid the dirty Castithan man who was whispering "Hey, little one, want to share my blanket?" as I came up behind him.

I pushed him away from my little daughter and pushed her behind me as I leaned towards him growling. My family awoke, and Venti quickly grasped the situation. Or I think he understood enough as one second he was sitting confused, the next his eyes were narrowing and in the next he was hurling himself at the Castithan. But only starting to come into his manhood at 16 he was no mach for a fully grown, if scrawny, man and so he found himself pushed into the wall. If it was only the man and me, I would have fought him, but I had my family to worry about so I grabbed my daughter and as many bags as I could while barking "Lets go!"

We rushed out of the alley around a corner and into a man.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: If you are interested in this story I am sorry it took me forever to update, I hate that. But my life is hectic right now, so it might continue. Sorry

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize from Defiance, the show or game

**Chapter Three:**

**A Place to Stay**

We rushed out of the ally around the corner and into a man. His large belly protected him from any pain little Yara, pushed before us all, could have caused. Yet, he rocked back on his heels and only just caught himself with a thick cane made from purple wood. A look of aggravation on his flabby face he looked down his nose at Yara and said "Have your parents neglected to teach you manners? Or do they have none of their own?"

Still ruffled from our run in with the ruffian who had dared to lay his hands on Yara we were all still understandably upset and over protective of Yara. Yet as my wife leaned forwards, a glint of light bouncing off of her bared yellow teeth, I realized that a fight with a castithan man on our first night would not help us in our immigration. However, I was tired, angry and lost so the best I could manage was to breath through clenched teeth, "Pardon us sir, this has not been an auspicious night. We have been unable to find lodgings, and the streets are not a suitable residence for a family."

"Even a family such as yours?" He asked while raising his silver brow. Yet he continued to speak too quickly for any dispute to arise, "Well you must have something of worth to your name. I am a business man and not so silly as to deny a decent trade, should you have one."

Regrettably, I failed my family in that moment because I was still stuck on his comment about us. However, my lovely wife came through by grabbing my hand, stepping forward and saying "We have a sand jewel, which I understand is quite valued by your kind. Perhaps… we could reach an agreeable trade?"

And never have I seen an expression change so quick. His pudgy cheeks should have shook with the speed at which he went from frowning to smiling. "Perhaps, for such a thing I might be willing to allow you the use of my barn for the night." Then as if realizing how eager he sounded he added, "If it is a good piece."

"One night? No, I think providing us with room and board will give you not only a beautiful jewel but the good labor of two fit irathient men." Irana had seen his excitement and was not against using it to get us the best situation she could.

"Two _men_? Why that one there is barely a boy!" He blustered while pointing at Venti, who stood straighter and puffed out his chest like a bird seeking a mate. "Besides, I am a trader! What use would they be when few would deign to trade with an irathiant?"

"You would deign to do so, apparently. Though we may change our minds yet. These two are good and strong workers. I know trade, you do not just deal with people. Workers to clean and stock the shelves for you would be welcome. And to only give them the use of your barn and some food? That would be a deal in itself if you weren't also getting a sand jewel in the trade."

So, that is how we spent all night cleaning the stalls in the trader Shoda's barn before sleeping half an hour before awakening to begin a days work on our new planet.


End file.
